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Being Mary Jane Season 4, Episode 12 Recap: Feeling Conflicted

How many dumb things can Mary Jane do this episode?

Let’s count…

One – Mary Jane (Gabrielle Union) awakes after her illicit encounter the night before, to a cold empty bed. Her Producer Justin (Michael Ealy) is up, dressed and ready to leave. She does get a hug and a kiss but also instructions; their relationship must remain a secret and this dude has already come up with ground rules.

Two – she asks Justin, ‘What are we doing?’. Single women in their 40s should be dictating relationships, using their experience and life skills to go after exactly what they want, not begging for titles from fuckboys.

Predictably the rules are designed to facilitate Justin’s interests; work comes first, no distractions, she must back him up at work and their ‘whatevership’ should remain a secret to all, including and especially Kara (Lisa Vidal). When Justin describes the relationship he only uses work, her job and his rise to the top as a barometer, there are red flags everywhere but…

Three – MJ is dick-matised again so they go over her head.

Back at Great Day USA, the only other black correspondent has been fired and Justin & MJ must suggest a new one, they are encouraged by Garrett (Ashton Holmes) to look at ‘all demographics’ which is code for not another black person and they both accept this? WTF?

Talking to hairdresser Ty, he reveals to MJ that he knows all about her secret love affair with Justin, if it’s obvious to him then it’s not long before everyone else in the studio realises, and I wouldn’t trust Ty with the tea either.

Kara wakes up to a drunk, hungover Orlando. She seems to enjoy running behind him, yet she clearly misses her kids. She has another meeting with the bosses about her job, she wants to brainstorm so sets up a double date with her, Orlando MJ and Lee.

Four – Instead of MJ figuring out how to tell her best friend about her own life changes, she runs to Justin for guidance. who distracts her with sex in a cupboard at work (KMT).

After thinking that a liaison between MJ & Justin would be sexy, I now believe Justin is controlling, manipulative and devious. This won’t end well for MJ.

The dinner at Kara’s turns into a girls’ night, after…

Five – MJ turns up at the door crying over Lee and proceeds to over explain how the relationship ended, when she leaves, Kara immediately knows she’s been lying.

Back in Atlanta, Niecy (Ravin Goodwin) is fed up of the dating scene and needs a breath of fresh air, namely a sexy young thing she’s speaking with on a dating app who lives in Brooklyn, NY. After speaking to Lee last week and learning that MJ broke up with him Mama Helen (Margaret Avery) is keen to know what happened and why MJ seems happier even though she’s single again. Seems like Niecy is on her way to visit her aunt.

MJ interviews a white, blonde alt-right internet star (think Tomi Lahren) and does a good job of calling her out and remaining calm. Little does she know her skills inadvertently got the girl a job. The first vlogger to get a correspondent role ever on US TV.

Kara starts following Lee on Twitter and notices he is heartbroken and self-deprecating. So she challenges MJ to face her truth. She pops up at her apartment, almost catching Justin & MJ in the act and drags MJ out to see Lee at one of his shows. En route MJ is forced to admit she lied but does not go all the way, Kara still knows she’s hiding something. MJ claims Lee was not in her league and she needs someone better, more ambitious etc. etc., basically describing Justin who is also out of her league but not in the way she thinks.

Back in arbitration Kara is shocked to see that Great Day USA have brought in Justin to speak against and her and he does a good job of ruining her reputation. After a confrontation, Kara lets Justin know how much she hates him, and later she lets MJ know how bad Justin treated her. She calls him a devil and evil and who can argue with her? However, after speaking with MJ, Justin persuades them to give Kara her job back with a pay rise and a better title so they can avoid paying her settlement.

Six – A mere 5 minutes back her desk Kara notices an intimate interaction between Justin & MJ and immediately realises what’s been happening. In an office with glass walls it’s amazing that two people who are supposed to be keeping their relationship a secret would risk a head to stomach embrace in full view of their colleagues.